2 Heart of the Matter
by myshipsaretitanics
Summary: A new relationship, a new case, a new... REID? A familiar face helps the team out while Reid is off testifying for the FBI, JJ and Emily work out kinks in their relationship, and the team travels to Pharr, TX to solve a case that has everybody cringing. This is the sequel to Another Chance. *TW: Racism*
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: **Hi everybody! Just to clarify, this is the sequel to Another Chance, and diverges from the series before the final episode of Season 7. Also, for waiting so patiently for the smut in the last story, I figured I'd get the ball rolling early this time around. Enjoy!

* * *

Emily rolled over and snuggled closer to JJ. The blonde smiled. "Was that your alarm?" she teased gently.

"Nope. I have no idea what you're talking about, the brunette said, snuggling in even closer.

JJ smiled at the warmth next to her for a minute before her own alarm started to ring. "Ugh. Come on, Em, we've got to get up."

"No," Emily groaned, pulling her pillow over her head.

JJ rolled over to whisper in Emily's ear. "I'll race you to the shower."

Suddenly, Emily sat up and grinned. "You're on." She bolted out of JJ's queen-sized bed. She picked up the shorter agent, who had made it in front of her, and set her to the side, tickling as she did so.

"Not fair!" JJ squealed through peals of laughter.

Emily reached the bathroom first and stuck out her tongue. "All's fair in love and war, baby."

JJ just shook her head, still laughing. "Shut up and kiss me."

Emily did as she was told, maneuvering them both through the small bathroom. She pulled JJ's tank top off and kissed down the blonde's neck before pushing her onto the toilet seat. Emily turned to start the water as JJ wrapped small hands around her waist, working her shorts and underwear off. "Ah, ah, ah, Patience," the older woman said, spinning around to catch the two delicate hands in her own.

"Fine," JJ pouted again before standing to remove her own shorts. Emily pulled off her tank top and stepped into the warm water.

JJ met her under the spray with a kiss. She started to feel her way towards Emily's breasts, but the woman caught her hands again.

Emily pushed JJ up against the wall. JJ hissed at the cold that now consumed her backside, but Emily only grinned. "You know the rules, Jareau. I beat you to the shower, so I get control," she whispered, nibbling softly on JJ's ear.

JJ's breath hitched at the contact. "Fine," she whimpered, "I'll be good, I promise."

Emily didn't respond, instead she latched on to JJ's already pert nipple. One hand continued to hold JJ's above her head, while the other trailed slowly down her flat stomach, drawing light swirls on the tan skin. When Emily's fingers reached her panty-line JJ's stomach pulled in automatically trying to escape the teasing fingers while her mind cried out for more. Emily flipped her over. JJ kept her hands on the wall, mostly to keep herself steady on her already weak knees.

Suddenly Emily shifted so she straddled one of JJ's legs as she trailed her fingers through JJ's folds. She positioned her fingers just at the edge of JJ's entrance. "What do you want?"

"You. Emily. Oh, god, please just fuck me. Please," JJ panted, hardly able to form a coherent thought let alone an entire sentence. Emily obliged, thrusting two long fingers into JJ. The resulting moan coupled with the feel and smell of JJ all around her nearly made Emily cum. She moved slowly until JJ frantically cried out for more. Emily used her leg to give her arm a bit of extra force as her fingers reached in and curled.

JJ's moans told her the younger woman was about to come apart. Emily brought her other hand, which had been teasing a nipple, down to JJ's clit. "Come for me, baby," she whispered.

And JJ did: with a final, soundless scream and viscous shudder that racked her whole body. Emily came apart as well, just knowing that she could have that effect on the beautiful woman in front of her was more than enough to send Emily into her own world of pleasure.

JJ started to slip down, her legs suddenly unable to hold her weight, but Emily's strong arms caught her. "I've got you, Jennifer, I won't let you fall."

JJ smiled and snuggled in close to her Emily. "I think I might need a few crackers to go with that cheese."

"Smartass."

JJ only giggled and tested her legs. She turned and reached for the shampoo. The women took turns shampooing and washing each other. It was sensual more than sexual, and it continued to be one of JJ's favorite parts of the day. Of course, the only thing that could make it better was a shower where the washee wasn't out of the water, shivering at the cold air.

"I want our next place to have one of those showers that sprays water from all directions, that and maybe a bath-tub I can swim in."

"Our place?" Emily asked.

JJ paled and turned to look at Emily. "Yeah – uh – you know, when – if – we move in together."

"When," Emily said, pulling JJ in for a kiss. "Definitely when. Besides, we're going to need a place for Henry's brothers and sister." She winked, well aware that they had talked about having more children. It was probably one thing that they both wanted more than anything, other than simply being together of course.

After their shower the two women got ready for work. Henry was spending a week with his grandparents, which made JJ done much faster than usual. "Are you sure I can't ride with you?"

"Positive," Emily replied, grabbing her gun and phone, the final touches before she walked out the door. "The team might not care, but you and I both know Strauss can't find out…"

"Which means we can't leave at the same time," JJ finished. Still, she pouted, at the kitchen counter. "I hate it when you're right." Emily only laughed and called JJ over for a kiss goodbye. She wasn't gone more than two minutes when JJ grabbed her own keys and left, deciding she would do something nice for the team and bring in coffee with all her free time.


	2. Chapter 2

Emily arrived at Quantico early, as usual. Normally her first stop would have been the small break room for coffee, but JJ had texted the entire team asking for their orders. She chuckled. Of course JJ couldn't just around at home and do nothing, it was against her nature.

She thought about popping by Garcia's office, but a tall, dark haired, lanky figure stopped her. He was leaning up against her desk, hands in the pockets of his suit, which looked incredibly nice. His eyes wandered around the bull pen taking everything in. He couldn't have been more than 25. The way that he dressed showed confidence in himself, or his abilities, but the way his shoulders hunched forward slightly was more than enough to convince Emily that he recognized that he was out of his element. Perhaps nervous, even, though he showed no clear signs on the outside. To be completely honest, he reminded her of a younger Dr. Reid.

"Hi, can I help you?" she asked, the face she normally used a political events sliding into place.

"Huh? Oh, no, sorry. I'm just waiting for Dr. Reid," he explained, looking at the desk before looking up at her. "This – uh – isn't his desk, is it?"

Emily smiled and offered her hand. "Nope, that's mine actually. Supervisory Special Agent Emily Prentiss."

He shook it graciously. "I know. It's so good to meet you, or well, meet you one-on-one. You and SSA Morgan taught my class on leading sensory interviews with children," he said with a questioning tone, as if trying to prompt her memory.

Emily thought for a moment. Of course! He was the kid who answered all the questions. "I remember you," she said, chuckling. "You've got skills, kid. You'll have to forgive me if I've forgotten your name though. I've drank since then." Emily winked at him, her good mood obvious.

The man's face paled slightly. "That – that is a joke, right?" he asked, clearing his throat. "Yeah – of course it is. I'm Dr. Sweets." At least he recovered. Not well, but he did recover.

Emily just chuckled and pointed to Reid's desk across the aisle. He walked over and leaned on Reid's desk, while Emily got to work. Morgan and JJ arrived not more than ten minutes later. JJ walked around and handed out her treats before heading to her office. Even Reid staggered in, albeit later than usual. He and the young doctor shook hands before they started talking in hushed tones.

"Hey Princess," Morgan whispered, poking his head out from behind his monitor. "What do you think that's about?" He jerked his thumb and the two young doctors.

Emily shrugged. She was about to tell Morgan that the kid looked like a Shrink, and the information she had got from him this morning when Garcia literally bounced into the bull-pen. "We've got a case! Meet in 10!" she practically sang. "And thanks to our other favorite blonde I'm seriously jacked up on caffeine right now."

Emily laughed and patted her friend's arm. "How many Monsters this morning?"

"Only Two," Garcia said, beaming like Henry did when his mother's told him good job.

"Plus the coffee JJ got you?"

Garcia nodded.

"Let me guess, a double mocha frappe with a triple shot of espresso."

Garcia looked at the floor briefly. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Emily smiled. "Yeah, right you don't. No more caffeine until lunch, okay?"

"Fine," Garcia agreed, already stomping off to the conference room, just like Henry after a talk with his Mamas.

"Oh, look, Mama Prentiss laying down the law. JJ's been an awful influence on you," Morgan teased.

JJ poked her head out from her office. "I heard that, Morgan. You just keep remembering who has the best shot in the FBI."

Hotch exited his office on the way to the conference room. "Hotch, are you hearing this?" Morgan asked, incredulously.

Hotch looked at Morgan and back to JJ. "Oh, no, don't put me in the middle of this. I'm on JJ's side. Always."

The team just laughed, Morgan included. Everyone knew that while Hotch got paid to be the team leader, JJ was the one that was really in charge. Morgan and Emily punched each other on the arm softly, before walking towards the conference room, talking about Henry's Halloween costume for the upcoming holiday.

Lance stood back, staring at the team in wonder. He had expected this team to be more like five Booths and an Angela, maybe a Camille thrown in, instead it was very obvious that this team worked like a family. Not necessarily unlike his own favorite group of Jeffersonian squints. Either way, he was pleasantly surprised.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** Hey guys, I know this chapter is short, I apologize. I promise I'll make it up to you next time.

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As the team gathered around the table, Hotch stood up. "Before we begin, I have an announcement. Reid's been called to work on a special case in New York this week. In his absence, Dr. Lance Sweets will be helping us out. We'll also be observing Dr. Sweets's time profiling and in the field." Sweets stood up straight, and waved slightly to the group.

"Let me guess, he's not a full agent, but he wants to be a profiler?" Rossi asked.

Hotch nodded. "He's been cleared to work in the field for a while now, we're mostly observing and reporting on his profiling."

Morgan leaned back in his chair and smiled. "So he gets practical experience, and his review from the best team in the FBI and we get an extra pair of hands when we're down a set. Nice. Kill two birds with one stone. Come on, Curly-Top, come grab a chair."

Sweets did as he was told, glad to already be accepted by the group. As soon as he sat, Garcia stood up. "Alright my super muffins, we've got a case in Pharr, TX."

"What," Sweets joked, "a case of the stolen dentures?"

Morgan looked over at the new guy and shook his head. "No, we have a case involving the brutal murders of six men," Garcia said, losing her normally perky attitude.

Lance coughed. "You're right. Serious. Sorry."

Garcia winked at the kid, a smile breaking out on her face, before she returned to the somber seriousness of a moment earlier. "Back to the icky-stuff. We only have three ids. Victim #2, Juan Hernandez, and Victim #6, Matthew Cortez, were American citizens while victim #5, Emmanuel Alvarez, was here on a green card. The others were all illegal immigrants. I'm still searching through Mexican databases for their information, but it's a long shot."

"And no one is going to want to talk to us. Great," Rossi finished.

Garcia nodded, a sad look on her face. "Um, what we do know is that all six men were scalped alive, before having their hearts ripped out."

"Aren't those rituals typically associated with Native American tribes?" Emily asked.

"Various in North and South America have used rituals similar to these," Reid started, before the team cut him off. "Yes, Emily. The short answer is yes."

Morgan thought for a moment. "He's got to be strong. Otherwise, how does he keep them neutralized while he scalps them?"

Garcia shook her head. "Actually, all of them had traces of mescaline in their systems."

Reid thought for a moment. "Mescaline? That's in LSD, it's a natural compound it's also… Peyote. Mescaline is in Peyote."

"Another bastardization. I think it's pretty safe to say our Unsub is white," JJ postulated.

A look of confusion passed over Sweets face. "I thought most killers targeted their own race."

Emily nodded. "No, you're correct. But do you see the way the three illegal immigrants were beaten more than the citizens and legal immigrant? That points to hate crime, and the way these native rituals are bastardized points to someone non-native."

"Coupled with our knowledge of racial tension at border cities, a white male is our most likely unsub," Morgan finished after picking up smoothly where his partner left off, like the well-oiled machine they were.

Sweets just nodded, clearly impressed. Hotch cracked a half-smile, if the kid thought the trouble-twins were impressive, he should really work a case with Emily and Reid together. "Wheels up in 30. We'll talk more on the plane."

Everyone nodded and went their separate ways. Fourty-five minutes later Hotch was surveying the team. Normally, pairing them off and assigning tasks wouldn't be a problem, but Sweets threw off their dynamic. "Do you speak Spanish?" he asked, startling the doctor.

"Uh, si? Un poco," Sweets said. "I'm not fluent, but I know enough to have a conversation."

Hotch nodded. "Good, JJ, you and Sweets should have enough Spanish between you to get by. You two head to the crime scenes, Emily, you and Morgan go talk to the families. Hopefully you'll get somewhere. Rossi and I will head to the local PD; start working on the geographical profile from there."

The team nodded and went back to their normal plane routine. Emily and JJ sat on the couch watching a movie, Hotch did paper work, Rossi typed away on a laptop, Morgan read and Sweets sat in a corner observing it all.


End file.
